Already there is clamoring for metal detectors and security guards. People shouting for repeal or amendment to the 2nd amendment. It’s like someone pushes the stupid button and people react like programmed robots.
Pentagraph NORMAL — A 14-year-old student is in custody in connection with shots fired into a ceiling Friday morning at Normal Community High School, which remains on lockdown while police investigate the incident.
There were no injuries in the incident that occurred about 8 a.m., said the Normal Police Department, adding the lockdown would continue while Unit 5 and the department “work cooperatively to unite students with parents,” according to a statement from NPD.
A second student also is in custody, said Unit 5.
Hundreds of parents are at nearby Eastview Christian Church and are beginning to take their children home. Eastivew is being called the “reunification” site for parents, who must sign their students out before they can take them home. The line is very long, but the scene is orderly and students and parents are being reunited.
Additional details will be released at a press conference at 1:30 p.m. at the Unit 5 administrative offices, 1809 W. Hovey Ave., Normal.
A small group of students who witnessed the incident in a freshman classroom were being questioned by police.
A parent of one of those students told her father a student came into their classroom and fired shots into the ceiling.
“She’s scared, but she’s OK,” said the parent.
Another parent, Laura McBride, said, “My son texted me or I would have lost it.” She was one of hundreds of parents at Eastview waiting approval to take their kids home.
McBride, whose son is a sophomore, works in the public defender’s office and goes through court-house security every day. She wants to see metal detectors and increased security at the school.
” No one in that courthouse is more important than my children.’” she said.
Parent Alicia Schwerin said she heard about what happened from a neighbor and the “ring down” from the district, and was relieved to get a simple text from her son: “I’m OK.”
“I was panicked for the students and the staff,” she said.
A message to parents on the NCHS website from Unit 5 Superintendent Gary Niehaus confirmed that “all students are safe, as that is always our number one priority.”
“We are working with Normal Police Department and more details of this very troubling incident will be available later today,” said the message that added there has been “no other threat to any other school” and that those schools “are experiencing a normal school day.”
After the lockdown was put into place, students were staying in their classrooms until police began allowing them to leave around 9 a.m.
[From the Comments:]
Smartone: I am glad to read no one is injured or worse in this incident. But this incident calls for metal detectors to be installed at the junior high and high schools. The taxpayers pay thousands of dollars and there is no reason to not already have them. It is really sad that students cannot be trusted, but it is reality. All it takes is one incident and then it might not end the way today’s event went but worse. Wake up and spend the money to protect students and the teachers along with everyone else in the building. There are no guarantees, but lets reduce the probability of a weapon getting into our schools.
CampGirl81: We can for sure say this can happen anywhere. So sad that this has come about this morning. The thing is now, I think there should be metal detectors in the high schools! No matter where you live they should be in all of the schools! End of story.
Aggie2014: My heart and prayer’s are out to the students at NCHS. Hearing about this from all the way in Texas scares me. When my classes senior class of 10′ prank of “Deer Urine Spray”(we did not do it. some guy from Bloomington ran in unannounced) I though it was crap that people had to check in through the front door. Now looking back I do agree that we need more than just a check in at the front door, it needs metal detectors.
Concerned Mom: I am so thankful that no one was hurt. My heart and prayers go out to those that will have to deal with this terrible thing that happened to them. To those who ask how are they going to pay for the metal detectors, the community can always come together and raise the funds to get the money to pay for the metal detectors themselves. We have fundraisers that raise $40,000+ a year. If everyone pulls together it could be done.
If we can have metal detectors in the court houses where there are armed cops and other govt. buildings then we surely could have detectors at all schools.
AND all movie theaters, grocery stores, malls, Wal-Mart, fast food places, office buildings, warehouses, parks, beaches, junkyards, motels & hotels, gas stations, convenience stores, doctors & veterinarians offices, restaurants, video arcades, parking structures & lots, and ESPECIALLY all Starbucks ( since I’m there half the time anyway ).
In fact, the ONLY places I would personally exempt would be lawyers offices!
You are right again #1, but they would never have metal detecters at a police dept. – and I wonder why. LOL
I have an idea. Why don’t we all each just live in a bullet proof metal ball and roll ourselves everywhere? Kinda like Bubble Boy only a metal ball. Make sure the metal isn’t made of lead, though. Otherwise we would all die of lead poisoning. Why don’t we all live in a Faraday Cage, too in order to prevent us from getting zapped by an EMP blast or electrocution.
Because then we’d miss out on the benefits of breathing chemtrails, NC.
I would have thought you’d figured THAT one out. LOL
Red Lake high school student Jeff Weise shot his way past the metal detectors at his school at the start of his 2005 shooting rampage. They aren’t going to stop a determined gunman. And Columbine high school had a full time sheriff’s deputy stationed at the school in 1999. That didn’t deter anyone either.
So stop running around like a bunch of scared ninnies, and realize your kid has an incredibly small chance of being a victims of gunshots at his/her school.